As The Years Pass
by dot823
Summary: Gamzee and Tavros met at 5 years old and quickly became friends. This story goes through their years as their lives change. Humanstuck au. Started as connected oneshots and fluff.
1. Age 5

**a/n: well. I haven't written a fic in forever…at least not one that I'd be willing to put on here. I recently got into Homestuck, and pb&j/Gamtav is one of my OTP's. I've been reading a ton of Gamtav fics and I rp a lot as Tavros(including a very fun Gamtav story with my rl moirail.) and I had this idea a while ago when I was heading to bed. I wrote it down in my phone and look at it every once in a while, but didn't think I'd actually write it until I started reading a ton of really cute and/or really depressing gamtav stories and I just got the overwhelming urge to actually write it out all pretty like. So yeah. **

**I think each chapter will take place on a different day, with them a different age each time.**

**Umm…I'm not Hussie, I don't own Homestuck.**

As The Years Pass

Age: 5

He ran through the playground, his little legs not carrying him fast enough as he glanced behind him, his pursuer catching up to him. He climbed up a ladder on the playground, hoping to escape in it, but she just ran around to a staircase. As soon as he reached the platform, a few feet off the ground, the girl pushed him backwards, standing on the platform above him scowling as he tried to hold back his tears. She laughed and jumped down, kicking him in the shin after landing.

"What's the matter, Tavros? Did the baaaaaaaaby fall again?" She asked, hands on her hips.

His lip quivered as the tears started falling. She smirked, "Oh look, the baby's crying again."

Tavros wiped the tears from his eyes, "Vriska, stop," he begged.

Rather than stopping, she looked around, calling to the kindergarteners on the slides, "Look! Tavros fell again and now he's crying like a baby!"

"Am not!" He angrily wiped the tears away and tried to stand up, but before he could, she shoved him back down.

"Yuh-huh! You're such a baby, you can't even take a little fall, can you?" She laughed again.

"I-I can!" He said as the tears started falling again, sniffling.

"Hey sis, why not lay off the little bro for a bit?" Said a boy Tavros didn't know with the messy black curls.

"Why should I? Maybe Tavros here should learn to be stronger, and stop acting like a little baby whenever he gets hurt," she scowled at him, crossing her arms.

The boy shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets, walking up until he was right next to her. He was a good few inches taller than her, and his black hair made his pale skin seem even lighter.

"Maybe he's just all up and scared because you're all in his face all the time," he said, looking her in the eyes, "You probably should just leave him alone."

She held her ground and glared at him, "You can't make me."

Tavros watched in silence from the ground. He had friends who tried to help him, yes, but they never actively stood up against Vriska for him. He watched in amazement as this total stranger stood against her, as the boy glanced behind Vriska. Tavros noticed and followed his eyes, seeing the playground monitor, busy watching the group of children playing on the basketball court.

Suddenly the strange boy screamed out in pain and fell to his knees, putting his hands over his crotch. The playground monitor looked over and ran toward them.

"What happened?" She asked.

The boy curled up a bit and let out a choked response, "s-she punched me."

"What?! No I didn't!" She defended herself, "Ms. C, you have to believe me!"

"Tavros, did she punch him?" Ms. C asked, and Tavros nodded silently. He didn't care that he was lying, Vriska was finally getting in trouble, even if it wasn't for hurting him.

"A-and she only did it, because I s-said she shouldn't push him over," the boy added, tears in his eyes.

"Vriska Serket," Ms. C scolded, "you know very well that violence is not allowed here. Say sorry to the boys right now."

Vriska looked down, pouting, before turning to glare at Tavros, quietly mumbling an apology to each of them. She was then taken away for a time out. Ms. C asked if he would be okay, and the boy nodded. When she asked Tavros, he nodded as well.

After Vriska and Ms. C were out of sight, the boy stood straight and held out a hand to Tavros, helping him stand up.

Tavros smiled and looked toward the ground, "uh, Thanks."

"It's no problem, little bro," the boy was a good few inches taller than Tavros, but that wasn't surprising to him. As he looked up, he found himself looking into smiling dark blue eyes, "Today's my first day, but I don't think you're in my class. I don't remember seeing you."

Tavros shook his head, "No, I'm in Ms. C's. Whose class are you in?"

"Mrs. M's. She's nice. I'm Gamzee, by the way."

Tavros smiled, "I'm Tavros."

"It's cool to meet you, Tavbro," Gamzee said, ruffling up Tavros's hair.

Tavros smiled at the nickname, "It's cool to meet you too."

**a/n well this is the beginning. Expect at least three more connected chapters. That's really all I have plans for but I mean it could always change. I have no smut planned for this, yet, so that could always add an extra chapter or two. I also don't expect this to turn into a sadstuck. This fic will MOOOST likely be mostly fluff. I like fluff. It's cute. **


	2. Age 10

**a/n It took me a few days to write this one due to a ton of distractions. **

As The Years Pass

Age: 10

Gamzee grabbed his backpack and coat off the hook, pulling on his purple snow pants and matching snow boots. The last day of school before winter break was just ending, and he couldn't wait to get out of there. One of his best friends, Tavros, was equally excited. The main reason for their excitement wasn't break, though.

Gamzee's birthday was only a few days away, and his older brother said he could have a birthday party the first whole day of break. Even better, Tavros was allowed to come over right after school and sleep over that very night.

As the boys ran out of the school building, they cheered in excitement. Gamzee grabbed the shorter boy's hand and pulled him along.

"This is gonna be great!" Tavros said with a laugh.

"You bet, Tavbro!" Gamzee looked back at his friend and smiled.

In the past five years since they met, Tavros seemed to have changed a lot. Gamzee remembered the first month, when Tavros could hardly say a word unless his brown eyes were looking anywhere but at Gamzee. It took the freckled boy three months to get entirely comfortable around him. That didn't matter now, though. Gamzee wouldn't trade their friendship for anything, even the ability to ride a unicycle.

The boys were practically inseparable, spending recess together and cheering excitably when they ended up with the same teacher in fifth grade. They played after school whenever their guardians allowed, and most Saturdays, you wouldn't find one without the other until they had to go home for dinner.

"There's so much we can do!" He said, catching up to Gamzee as they began the walk to his house.

"You got it bro! I can't wait to rap, and watch one of those movies you all up and love. My brother even agreed that we could get pie!"

"Really? Awesome!" Tavros cheered again.

Gamzee grinned, the rest of the walk spent laughing and cheering. After getting home and eating the snack that Gamzee's brother had prepared for them—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, their favorite—they settled into the beanbags in the basement, in front of the TV.

"Before we start the movie, I want to give you your present now," Tavros said, pulling the gift, wrapped in purple paper with a large orange bow, out of his backpack.

"But my party's not 'til tomorrow," Gamzee said, eying the present excitedly. Of course he wanted to open it now, but he wasn't going to unless Tavros was sure.

"I want you to open it now though! I'm really excited to see if you like it," Tavros insisted, holding it out with a handmade card.

Gamzee took both the present and the card in his hands. The front of the card was a drawing Tavros had done of the two of them sitting together with a cake in front of them and balloons and a banner that read 'Happy birthday Gamzee!' behind them. Gamzee opened it to find a drawing of him, as a clown; a wide smile painted on his face in gray and triangles around his eyes of the same color. He was riding a unicycle and juggling five balls. On the back, Tavros had left a short message.

_I hope you have a really great birthday, and that you like my present,_

_Love, your best bro ever,_

_Tavbro_

"Tavbro this drawing is so chill!" Gamzee grinned, "You know I all up and love clowns!"

Tavros smiled wide and gestured toward the present, "Well open it!"

Gamzee took the bow off of the present first, sticking it to Tavros's forehead, then tearing through the wrapping paper to reveal a pair of pajama pants covered in large polka dots. He unfolded the pants, causing a clown's horn to fall to the ground and honk softly.

He scooped the horn off the ground and honked it a few times before placing it to the side, "Tavbro, I love them!" He stood and changed into the pants as Tavros laughed happily.

He then hopped on top of the smaller boy, hugging him tight and smiling, "You're all up and the best bro I could ever ask for!"

Tavros hugged back, saying, "And you're the best bro I could ask for, too."

The boys then went into a rap battle, although neither had any real skill. They ate dinner with Gamzee's older brother and watched Tavros's favorite movie, Peter Pan, afterwards, and soon after the movie finished, they fell asleep in the beanbags in front of the TV.

**a/n I think it's a little shorter than the last, but that's okay! I'm not the happiest with this one either but I don't feel like rewriting it. I might end up going through it once more before I post it, though. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think!**


	3. Age 14

**a/n Now let's see…how long will this lil shit take me?**

As The Years Pass

Age: 14

Tavros carefully maneuvered around the room, nearly losing his balance as he tried to avoid stepping on one of the many horns littering the floor of Gamzee's bedroom.

The horn Tavros got him on his 11th birthday became the start of Gamzee's now extensive horn collection. Every birthday and holiday since then, clown horns were near the top of his wish list. Any time either of the boys went out of town over the last four years, they'd search the little shops for a horn to add to his collection. The majority of the horns were piled up in the corner of the room, but several were scattered around the rest of the room.

Another habit formed that day was his habit of wearing polka dotted pants whenever he could get away with it. Since growing out of the pair Tavros had first gotten him, Gamzee had come into possession of at least 10 more pairs of pajama pants similar to the first.

"I think, you might need to get a basket or something for these horns," Tavros commented as he plopped on the bed next to his best friend.

"Nah, Tavbro, what's the point of having a collection if the whole thing's all up and shoved into a big box?" Gamzee grinned up at his friend, honking his newest horn before tossing it in the general direction of the horn pile.

Tavros rolled his eyes and chuckled, leaning onto the purple body pillow as Gamzee reached up and ruffled his hair.

"I motherfucking love that mohawk," Gamzee said, commenting for the thousandth time on the hairstyle Tavros had gotten a year ago.

"I know, I love it too," Tavros smiled and reached up to do the same to Gamzee's mop of curls.

They relaxed in silence for a moment before Gamzee shifted to sit up more, "Remember how I told you all about my old friend, Karkat?"

Tavros nodded. He had met Karkat Vantas on a few occasions, usually at Gamzee's birthday parties. He was Gamzee's best friend even before he had moved, and after the move, they stayed in contact through letters, phone calls, and facebook. They were still great friends, although they only got to see each other in person every few months.

"I'm worried, bro," Gamzee's usual happy demeanor disappeared in a second, "He all up and is falling head over heels for this girl, but I'm not fuckin' sure that she's going to tread him right."

"What makes you say that?" Tav asked, sitting cross-legged. He was glad Gamzee had things to talk about, happy for every moment before he told Gamzee his news.

"I've met her a couple of times, and she just doesn't motherfucking seem _right _for him. I know tons of sisters, and even a few brothers, who'd probably be better for him."

"Is she mean?"

Gamzee shrugged, "She doesn't seem that mean. Not as mean as Vriska used to be, at least. She just…doesn't seem like she actually likes him as much as he likes her. Like one time when we were all up and hanging out, last time I visited, she was motherfucking texting this guy named Dave half the time."

Tavros frowned, "What did Karkat think about it?"

"He's jealous of Dave. Thinks he can win her back. I don't think he should try. She doesn't really seem worth it," Gamzee smiled sadly at Tavros, "It's okay, though. I'm worried for him, but I'm sure it'll all turn out well."

"Yeah, he's pretty tough, from what I've seen," Tavros agreed.

"Anyway, how about you? I never hear you talk about any girls," Gamzee smiled, "Have any crushes?"

Tavros pulled hugged his knees, resting his head on top of them, "I don't really like any girls…"

"Not a single one, Tavbro?"

"No, uh," He blushed, hiding his face in his knees, "I hope this doesn't change how you think of me, but, uh…"

Gamzee waited for a moment for Tavros to continue before sitting up and putting a hand on his shoulder, "Tavbro, the only thing that could change how I think of you is if you motherfucking said you hated clowns or some shit like that."

Tavros smiled a little and looked up at his best friend, "I don't think I like girls at all. I'm pretty sure I'm, uh," He bit his lip, still nervous about Gamzee's reaction despite knowing that Gamzee probably wouldn't care, "I'm gay."

"That's all up and chill, bro!" Gamzee grinned at him, "Why be nervous? You know I don't care about that kind of shit. I think it's motherfucking awesome that you know what you like. Hell, you know I don't know if I'm straight or gay."

He smiled wide, "I know, it was stupid to be nervous."

Gamzee ruffled his mohawk again and stood, stretching, "It's cool, Tavbro. It doesn't matter who you like, you're still my bestest bro."

"I'm really glad," Tavros smiled up at him, watching as he stretched and started walking toward the door, "Where are you going?"

Gamzee stopped at his dresser and picked up a white plastic bag before walking out the door, "Just getting this motherfucking awesome shit Kurloz got me. You have to see this shit. I'll be right back."

A few moments later, Gamzee walked in, his face ghost white with triangles painted around his eyes, small circles on either side of his face, and a large grin spread from ear to ear. Tavros couldn't help but laugh.

"It's so motherfucking cool, I'm almost like a real clown now, Tavbro!"

He leaned down and picked up the nearest horn, honking it a few times as Tavros nodded in agreement.

"The only thing you're missing is the unicycle!"

Gamzee jumped back onto the bed next to his bro, tossing the horn in his hand and honking it every once in a while as they continued talking, moving onto much lighter topics. Tavros couldn't stop smiling the whole time he was at Gamzee's house that night.

**a/n So I totally nearly finished this and then just left it sitting there for a day by accident. So. Yeah, here's chapter 3. The next chapter may or may not be as cute as the first few…**


	4. Age 16 Part 1

**a/n Thanks for the views and follows, guys! I'm glad you seem to like it }:o) This is the last age that I have planned out. But this age will also have multiple parts! At least two, probably three.**

As The Years Pass

Age 16 Part 1

How could he have been so stupid? What in his mind had made him think it was a good idea? Gamzee had been right, and _of course _he was right. Tavros was stupid to think that anybody would like him, let alone one of the richest boys in school!

He had been chatting with Eridan for a few weeks now, and he thought he could trust him. He thought, when he received the message saying 'meet me at the pool entrance, tonight at 11, I havve something important ta tell you…' that maybe, the boy liked him. He called Gamzee immediately.

"Gamzee! Eridan just messaged me, and I'm going to meet up with him tonight, and I think he's going to ask me out!"

"Tavbro…" Gamzee's lack of enthusiasm really put a damper of Tavros' mood. Any time Gamzee had good news, Tavros would cheer with him, no matter if he was excited about whatever it was, or not. He couldn't understand why Gamzee wasn't doing the same for him.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not motherfucking sure. I don't think you should meet up with him, bro. I mean he never says a word to you at school and that's not motherfucking right. If he really likes you why does he act like you don't exist?"

"I already talked to him about that, after the first week. He said he couldn't, because he didn't want people to judge him so early in our friendship. You know that he's really popular, and he's an upperclassman. Hanging out with a kid like me would've ruined a lot for him."

"Tavbro," Gamzee seemed almost hurt, "That's absolute bullshit. If he really likes you, he should say something to you at school. In front of people."

"I'm not going to give him an ultimatum," Tavros rubbed his temple with two fingers, "That's how you lose people. I'm sure that after tonight he'll tell people at school."

"I still don't think you should meet up with him tonight. What if he tries something?"

Tavros groaned, "Why can't you just be happy that I might actually have a chance with somebody?" He waited a good minute for an answer, "Hello?"

"Look…I just…I'm not so sure about this guy," Gamzee sighed into the phone, "I don't think he's right for you. I think he's kind of an ass and you deserve somebody who will motherfucking treat you right. But maybe you're right. Maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about. Go meet up with him or whatever the motherfuck you want to do, okay? Just…motherfuck, just…whatever."

Gamzee hung up, leaving Tavros in confusion. Any other day, Tavros would have called him back, made sure he was okay. That's what best bros did. But he knew Gamzee would just insist that Eridan wasn't right for him, and he just wanted support. He wanted somebody to be excited with him. So instead of calling Gamzee back, he got ready for his meetup.

He stood there for two hours, waiting for Eridan to show up. It was a little chilly, but he just wrapped his arms around himself and hoped Eridan would get there soon. But as the minutes ticked, his excitement dwindled. Around midnight, he pulled out his phone and thought of calling Gamzee and apologizing, but he didn't want to admit that he was wrong. Around 12:30, he typed half a text, telling Gamzee he was right, before deleting it all.

It wasn't until 1:00 that he got another message from Eridan. He had changed his mind. He didn't like Tavros after all, and honestly thought he was pathetic.

He cried, reading the message, and called Gamzee. But he only reached voicemail.

"_Yo motherfucker, leave a message at the honk," _followed by him honking a horn, and a beep.

"Gamzee…you were right. He doesn't love me. He thinks I'm pathetic. Gamzee please just answer this," He cried into the phone, shaking as he sat on the ground against the door.

He tried again, with the same result. And then he tried again, still no answer. After the fourth try, he got up, still crying, and started walking towards Gamzee's house. As he mentally beat himself up for his stupidity, he started walking faster. Tears left salty trails down his cheeks that he didn't bother wiping away.

He kept walking, quickening his pace to a jog before starting to run. He didn't bother slowing down as he reached the crosswalk.

The driver had just looked down for a few seconds, but when they looked up, they were mere feet away from the running boy. They slammed on their brakes just as they hit him.

It was all too fast. Tavros was passed out on the pavement as they stopped and ran out of the car. He gripped his phone tight as it reached Gamzee's voicemail, once again.

**a/n *cackles evilly* I know you all love me. I'm going to post the new chapter as soon as I finish writing it, just as I've done for the rest of the chapters. So…a few days, probably. **


	5. Age 16 Part 2

**a/n Thank you so much for the reviews and for following the story! I appreciate every single one! This chapter will most likely be longer than the rest. And by most likely, I mean I'm currently at 1,000 words and I'm not done yet. Which already makes it the longest chapter, if I'm correct. **

As The Years Pass

Age 16 Part 2

Gamzee groaned, trying to ignore his brother banging on his door. He just wanted sleep twenty minutes more, was that too much to ask for? He dreaded waking up and talking to Tavros, for the first time in his life. He covered his face with his hands, scared that his best bro would be angry at him.

After a moment, he picked up his phone from his end table. He immediately noticed five missed calls from Tavros, and started listening to the messages. The last message Tavros had left caused Gamzee's breath to hitch.

"_Oh fuck, fuck, wake up!" Somebody yelled, "Kid, fuck! Wake up! Shit!"_

_The stranger was quiet for a moment, then continued "Hello? I just ran into a kid. He just sort of ran out into the street and I didn't have enough time to stop. He's not responding to me, I think he might be dead."_

The message cut off soon after that. Gamzee stood up immediately and sprang his door open, causing his mute older brother to almost fall into the room.

"Gamzee I've got terrible news," he signed, "Tavros was hit by a car last night."

"I know, Kurloz," Gamzee started the message again and held his phone out for his brother to listen, going back to sit on his bed.

Once Kurloz finished the message and set the phone down on his dresser, Gamzee looked up at him, vision blurred from tears, "He's dead, isn't he?"

Kurloz shook his head, and signed furiously, "He's in the hospital. They think he'll survive."

Tavros was still alive? Fuck, Gamzee was so relieved. He didn't know what he'd do, if his last conversation with his best bro had been a fight. He already felt horribly guilty, just knowing Tav was in the hospital. Had Tavros actually died, he would have been inconsolable.

Kurloz continued signing, "We can go to the hospital as soon as you're ready. He hasn't woken up yet, but his father said he'd want you to be there."

Gamzee nodded and stood, wiping nonexistent crumbs off his pants, "I'm ready."

Kurloz nodded, walking out of the room. They drove to the hospital and made their way to Tavros's room. While walking down the hallway, they saw his father. As soon as Mr. Nitram saw them, he waved and walked toward them.

Dark bruises were under his eyes, his brown hair tangled and a weak smile on his face, "Gamzee, Kurloz, I'm glad you made it. He's still out, but he's stable now."

"I'm glad he's okay," Kurloz signed slowly, "What happened?"

Mr. Nitram ran a hand through his hair as he explained the situation. Of course, Gamzee knew the whole story, up to him getting hit. What he didn't know was what happened after the accident.

"He's paralyzed, they say he will never be able to walk again," Mr. Nitram said, choking back some tears.

"I'm so sorry," Kurloz signed. Gamzee gulped and covered his eyes so they wouldn't see the tears before he angrily wiped them away.

He couldn't help but blame himself. If he had been awake, he could have calmed Tavros down, stopped him from running. He could have gone to him and held him as he cried and walked with him, and now Tavros would never walk again. And, in Gamzee's eyes, it was all his motherfucking fault.

A nurse leaving Tavros's room interrupted his thoughts when she came to the group, letting them know that he could have visitors. They walked into the room, Gamzee going first. He sat beside the sleeping boy, and help his hand.

Motherfuck, he looked so fragile. The bandage on his head covered the fluffy mohawk for the most part, a few tufts escaping from the top. His lip had split open, and one cheek was bruised. Through all their years as friends, he had always been small, but as he laid there unconscious, he seemed even smaller. It was almost as though they were five again.

"I'm so sorry, Tavbro," he whispered, looking up when Kurloz placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled down at him sadly, "I should have been awake. I could have stopped this from happening."

"It's not your fault," Mr. Nitram interjected, "You weren't the one that hit him, and you weren't the reason he was out so late."

Gamzee's mind snapped to Eridan. It was all Eridan's motherfucking fault. Eridan hurt Tavros, he motherfucking practically killed him. He was the reason Tavros was out, he was the reason Tavros was distressed, and he was the reason Tavros ran in front of that car. And he was going to pay.

With a squeeze to Tavros's hand, Gamzee let go and stood up, "If he wakes up while I'm gone, tell him I'll be back as soon as I can be," he said, walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Mr. Nitram asked, Kurloz signing the same thing.

"I'm heading out to get some air," he lied. There was no way he could tell them his plans. They would stop him, and nobody should get in the way of an angry Makara. Especially not this one.

"Are you sure that's all you're doing?" Kurloz asked, earning a strained smile and a nod.

"Yeah, bro, I'll be okay. I just need to go think," Gamzee said, walking out the door. As he walked down the halls of the hospital, his hands tightened into fists. He tried his best to remain calm until he reached the car.

He sat in it for a moment and screamed, banging his fists on the steering wheel, before driving off. He reached the pool, where Eridan would surely be swimming at with his good friend. Once entering, flashed his membership card to the lifeguard and walked into the locker room.

Nobody else was at the pool that early on a Sunday morning, and nobody else would arrive for another hour or two. He watched from the Entrance as Eridan and his friend, Feferi, swam laps. Feferi was beating him, and Eridan, being the elitist bratty ass he was, wasn't taking it well.

"Feferi, I think I'm going to dry off and take a break, I'm tired," he told her as he climbed the ladder.

"Aw, okay! I'm going to swim a while longer!" Feferi started doing the back stroke across the pool.

Eridan took his towel, and checked his phone, "It's nearly time for early brunch with my father, I'm going to shower and head out. I'll be back around 1."

He didn't wait for Feferi's answer before turning to enter the locker room. Gamzee backed away from the entrance, hiding in a bathroom stall until Eridan got to his things.

"So, Eridan, break any hearts lately?" He said quietly, stepping out of the stall and leaning against the wall a few feet away from Eridan, startling the swimmer.

"w-what?" he asked, turning to look at Gamzee, "What are you even doing here?"

Gamzee chuckled darkly and took a few steps closer, nearly growly in a low voice, "I'm here to talk to you about a certain motherfucker that you fucked with."

"Who would that be?" Eridan squinted, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to look superior.

"Tavros motherfucking Nitram. Name motherfucking ring a bell?" He yelled the name, louder than necessary, returning to a low growl as he asked the question, scaring Eridan more as he took another step forward, now only a foot away from him.

"I have never heard that name before, I sw-wear."

"I don't believe you," Gamzee growled, hand reaching forward and gripping Eridan's arm, "You've been motherfucking messaging him, for the last few weeks or so."

Gamzee tried his hardest to stay quiet, but every once in a while he'd start screaming at the boy. Thankfully, it seemed that the lifeguard and Feferi were too distracted to notice them.

"No, I haven't, I've never even heard the name before," Eridan promised, nearly shaking in fear.

"Yes, you have. And you motherfucking told him," Gamzee gripped his arm tighter, twisting it slightly, "to meet you here last night."

"W-well I wasn't here last night."

"I motherfucking know," Gamzee growled and pushed him against the lockers, "He motherfucking waited two hours before you had the motherfucking decency to tell him you weren't coming."

"Why would I bring somebody to the pool, and then not show up? Please, think about it," Eridan begged.

"WHY should motherfucking think about it? You motherfucking led him on, you broke his motherfucking heart," Gamzee grabbed his other arm, pulling him away from the lockers before banging on them again.

"I would never do that to anybody," Eridan cried out, "I've been hurt enough times as it is, why would I do that to somebody else?"

"Because you're a sick, elitist, motherfucker," Gamzee twisted his arms more, "And you're the motherfucking reason he'll never walk again."

"I promise, it w-wasn't me!" Eridan flinched from the pain, "It w-was somebody, pretending to be me, or something, I don't know! Just, don't hurt me!"

"And why should I motherfucking believe you?" Gamzee yelled, quickly returning to a whisper, "Are you listening? Tavros will never motherfucking walk again, because of you."

"I'm sorry!" He cried, tears started to spill over his cheeks, "I'm sorry he thought it was me! I'm sorry somebody was pretending to be me! I'd fix it if I could, I promise!"

Gamzee stared into his eyes crazily, his sanity long gone. He looked for any hint that his upperclassman was lying, and found none. He was still going to beat him up, as a warning to others that you do not mess with Tavros and get away with it.

"P-please believe me," Eridan whimpered.

"If I ever hear about you motherfucking hurting anybody, and if I ever find out that you're lying to me, I'll motherfucking kill you," He growled, twisting his arms more before letting go of one and punching him hard in the stomach and kneeing him in the balls.

He left as Eridan kneeled on the ground, doubled over in pain.

**a/n yeaaaaah. I wish I could have done more for him, had him do worse. But I couldn't have him get arrested or something, could I? Yeah. This chapter is nearly double the length of the others, I think. At least, double the length of some of them. I'm not sure if the next chapter will actually be part 3 of 16 or if it'll actually be Age 17. **


	6. Age 16 Part 3

**a/n Now this chapter is ACTUALLY the last chapter I have planned. After this it's just…idk…I didn't think about that…if you have anything you want to see please leave a review saying it and I'll write it if I can. Also, sorry about using Eridan. I tried to think about having it be somebody else, but it obviously could not be a girl, since Tav's gay, and—alright, shutting up. If you want an explanation for why it couldn't be Sol, KK, or Equius, let me know. Also Dave, Jake, John, and Dirk all just occurred to me. *bangs head on wall***

**Aaaaand *warning* there's a bit of talking about self harm. I'm sorry if this offends or triggers anybody.**

As The Years Pass

Age 16 Part 3

Tavros sat in bed, his back leaning against the excessive amount of fluffy pillows his dad had insisted on he needed. He was playing pokemon on his 3DS, another gift his father had given him in the past month, since he got home from the hospital. But he could only spend so much time on the game at one time, and he had spent the last four hours playing.

Weekends like this were always the worst. To anybody else, his set up would seem pretty great; TV in the room, Laptop in his reach, a small box of snacks and a dad who always brought his meals to him instead of making him go to the dinner table. He wanted nothing more than to move around, though.

Few notable things had happened since he got home. Mainly, Eridan approached him at school. He explained that it wasn't him, that he hadn't been texting Tavros and if he had, he wouldn't have ignored him in school or left him to wait at the pool for two hours. He asked if there was anything he could do, to help Tavros out, but Tavros denied. A moment later, Gamzee came up to Tavros and ruffled his hair, causing Eridan to mumble another apology and walk away.

Tavros smiled fondly as he thought of Gamzee. As soon as he saw Gamzee after the crash, he cried and hugged him, apologizing for being an asshole that night and begging for forgiveness. Gamzee was almost always over, now.

He'd pick Tavros up in the mornings for school and help him get from class to class as he got used to the wheelchair. At the end of the day, he'd bring him back home or take him out to get food. Once they got home, they'd hang out for a few hours on Tav's bed and do their homework together. He ate dinner with them nearly every other night, too.

On Saturdays, he'd work most of the morning, coming over a few hours before dinner, and then either stay overnight or stay until late, depending on if he was asked to work on Sunday.

The routine comforted Tavros, he loved seeing Gamzee so much. But at the same time, he wanted to do something. He felt trapped and didn't see the reason in life if he'd be spending the rest of it the way he had spent his time lately.

Gamzee distracted him from the depressing thoughts, when he was there. Just his presence made Tavros happier. But he couldn't be there all the time, and whenever Tavros got bored of his games and his mind started traveling, it took the same path.

At the start, he'd think about how things were so much more difficult now. How it took him an hour to get dressed, rather than a few minutes, a trip to the bathroom wasn't easy either. Nothing seemed easy anymore. Then he'd think about how dull life was for him, and how there was no obvious escape from boredom. He'd get stuck there for a while, before reaching to topic of romance.

He was in this chair because he had fooled himself into believing that somebody actually liked him. Now it was obvious to him that nobody could ever him. He was much too shy and boring before, and now he was disabled, too. What kind of guy would go for somebody like him?

Usually, Gamzee arrived before he could get too deep into that train of thought, but today he had to work a few extra hours, and he had decided to pick up some fast food for the two of them before heading over.

By the time he showed up, Tavros was absentmindedly pinching his legs hard enough to leave bruises up and down his thighs, trying to stimulate some sort of sensation from the limbs.

"Tavbro," Gamzee said, immediately walking to the bed and pushing his hands away, "You shouldn't be doing that."

"Why not? It's not like I can feel it anyway," Tavros sighed, not meeting Gamzee's eyes. He was ashamed to get caught pinching his legs again. While he was in the hospital, they had to restrain him at one point because he wouldn't leave them be.

Gamzee sighed, setting the food down and sitting next to him, "You know what the doctors said. I'm not your dad, so I'm not going to repeat it. But if you want me to, I can bring him in here."

"No!" Tavros's head snapped up, eyes wide and begging Gamzee not to do it. Apparently, continuously bruising himself could lead him to hurt himself worse, and there was a possibility that he might start cutting at his legs, possibly causing himself to bleed out. If Tavros's dad knew he was still doing it, they'd have Tavros seeing the grief counselor he had been seeing in the hospital, or going to a psychologist, and if there was one thing Tavros didn't want, it was that.

With a sigh, Gamzee took one of Tavros' hands in his own, "Then you need to stop," he said quietly, "Whenever I find you doing this shit, you tell me it's nothing. You should motherfucking talk about what's wrong. I'm your best bro, maybe I can help."

"You do help, you really do," Tavros said, rubbing his eyes with his free hand, "It's just…I don't want to make you feel bad, that I don't think you can help with this."

"But if I can?" Gamzee rubbed small circles on the back of his hand, not looking away from his best bro's face.

Tavros took a deep breath and stared at his legs as he spoke, trying to use his will to wiggle his toes, "I just…the whole reason I'm paralyzed is because I was convinced somebody liked me. And now I just don't understand why I thought anybody would like me, especially somebody older and richer and more popular than I am. I was never anything special, and now it's even worse because I can't do things for myself anymore. Nobody will like me, now…"

"Tavros. Shut up."

Tavros stared at him in shock. This might just be the first time in eleven years of friendship that Gamzee ever used Tavros's real name. It was certainly the first time Tavros could ever remember hearing Gamzee say his birth name. Once Gamzee was sure Tavros wouldn't start talking again, he continued.

"You're motherfucking wrong. There's somebody in this town who likes you, and has liked you for a long time. They might even motherfucking love you," At Tavros's confused expression, he started to explain, "This guy, he thinks if he could only look into one thing for the rest of his life, it'd be your eyes. He spends hours thinking of kissing every freckle on your body, and he thinks that if freckles are angel kisses then it's no motherfucking surprise that you'd have so many."

Tavros feels his cheeks heating up. "Gamzee-"

"I'm not done. This guy could be in the crappiest mood ever, and as soon as sees you, everything gets better. Just the thought of getting to spend time with you makes his heart skip a beat. When you smile he wants to kiss you in joy, and when you frown he wants to kiss that frown right off your face. The thing he dreams about more than anything else is spending the rest of his life with you, making you happy. He doesn't care if you can walk or not because if he has it his way, you'll be treated so well that you won't even need to worry about it because he'll take care of everything for you."

Once the speech was over, Tavros waited a few seconds before speaking, shaking his head slightly and looking at his lap, rubbing a leg with his free hand, "I don't think anybody could feel that way about me. I'm not special."

"You're wrong. You're so much more than you think you are, Tavbro," Gamzee said, still holding onto Tavros's hand and refusing to let go.

"How can you know, though? How do you know for sure that the guy wasn't lying to you?" Tavros looked over to him sadly, not expecting to find Gamzee's face mere inches away from his own.

Gamzee hadn't done his clown makeup yet that day. He usually did it in the bathroom of Tavros's house right after saying hello to Tavros, but the makeup could wait a little while longer. He quickly laid a kiss on Tavros's frown before pulling back.

"I'm not lying to myself. I tried to, for a while, but I gave up after the accident. I lost my shit, when I thought you were dead. Didn't know if I could motherfucking live if you had died without knowing how I felt."

Tavros couldn't think, he simply stared at Gamzee in shock. He had no clue how to even process this information. He had a crush on Gamzee for years, one that he had spent months burying in the deepest parts of his mind. So deep in fact that he had convinced himself that those feelings were nothing more than what somebody would feel for their best friend. Gamzee's kiss seemed to cause a chain reaction in his mind, though, and those feelings burst out from the hidden depth and bloomed as a flower in the sun might. As his heart swelled with joy and butterflies fluttered in his stomach, he leaned in and kissed Gamzee softly, just as he finished speaking.


	7. Age 17 Part 1

**a/n oh wow, thank you to everybody who's commented. I'm really sorry it's taking so long, I've just been really unsure about what to do now that my original plot is over. I'm not sure how long I want to continue this for, but I guess I'll figure it out sooner or later! I actually finished half of the next chapter before even writing this one, because I wrote like half of it with Tav before realizing I was supposed to be following Gamzee again and then I was like, 'nah I can't get rid of what I've written and just change POV's, this stuff has to be in Tav's POV…I guess I should probably make another chapter to go before this one then. Wow this is really long and stupid. Ignore me.**

As The Years Pass

Age 17 Part 1

Gamzee paced back and forth outside of the Best Buy. The kid would be getting out of work any minute now, that's what Tavros's friend had said. The kid was supposed to be a genius with computers, and even though it had been a good five months since the accident, Gamzee hoped that maybe he'd find out who the asshole was that caused his angel to lose his legs.

The nerd finally exited the building, already on his phone doing who-knows-what. When Gamzee walked up to him and blocked his path, he only glanced up for a second and moved to the side, mumbling a half-hearted apology.

"I need to talk to you, Sollux," Gamzee insisted, again blocking his path.

Sollux sighed and lowered his phone, one blue and one reddish-brown eye turned upward to stare at Gamzee with disinterest.

"Look, I already told the last guy that asked that I wasn't going to write him any hacks," He said with a slight lisp.

"I don't give a motherfuck about hacks, I need you to track some information down for me."

"Why would I? I hardly even know you," Sollux crossed his arms, "Just because you're dating one of Aradia's friends doesn't mean I have to do shit for you."

"You'll help because you motherfucking should," Gamzee said in a low voice, anger slowly starting to bubble up under his skin. This asshole has to help, and it'd make Gamzee's life a lot easier if he'd just motherfucking agree to it already so he could get the McDonalds and head back to Tavros, already.

"What's this even about?" Sollux asked, pushing his glasses up his nose as he glared up at the tall boy.

"Remember a few months ago, with Tavros lost his legs? Some asshole was pretending to be Eridan Ampora, and long story short, it's that motherfucker's fault. I need to know who it is," Gamzee summarized, "You're going to help."

"So I'm helping clear that jerk's name? No thanks," he scoffed and tried to walk around Gamzee again.

Gamzee rolled his eyes and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently, "That's not what this is about, I already dealt with Eridan. This is about making sure whoever hurt Tavros pays for it."

"I still don't get what this has to do with me."

At that moment, Sollux's phone went off. He turned away from Gamzee and answered it, "Hey AA, I might be a little late. This asshole stopped me while I was leaving work and is insisting I help him with something."

Gamzee couldn't hear the other side of the phone call, but he smirked as Sollux sighed and started rubbing his temples with his free hand, "Yes, it's whatever-his-name-is, the guy dating TV…N-…I still don't get why you want me to help. Yeah, I know…I know, I could probably do it, but…"

There was a long pause and Sollux turned back a bit and glanced back over to Gamzee, "Okay, okay…but I'm only doing it for you."

Gamzee grinned, making a mental note to thank Aradia later on.

"So I guess I'll help a little, since Aradia really wants me to," Sollux mumbled and played around with his phone for a moment, creating a new contact and holding the phone out to him, "Put in your name and phone number and I'll text you when I need anything."

"Thanks, brother!" Gamzee did as he was asked and quickly handed it back to him, "I'll get your number from Aradia, if I need it."

Sollux rolled his eyes but said nothing else in response, simply walking toward his car once Gamzee handed him his phone. From there, Gamzee went to McDonalds and grabbed some chicken nuggets and a few burgers before heading back to the house. When Sollux texted him later that night asking for the program the fake Eridan had used, along with their username, Gamzee swiped Tavros's phone during a kiss and headed to the bathroom to find the information.

He found the program easily, and the fake Eridan was the only contact. What Gamzee didn't expect was to see messages between Tavros and the person that had been sent as recently as two days earlier. He read through some of them, starting with the first ones since the accident, sent the week Tavros went back to school.

_caligulasAquarium: You literally fell for that? Wow! I knew you were pathetic but I didn't think you were that bad._

_adiosToreador: ,,,,,_

_caligulasAquarium: Did you seriously think he'd like you? _

_adiosToreador: i GUESS i DID,_

_caligulasAquarium: Ha! I guess I taught you a lesson then. You always have believed in everything too easily._

_adiosToreador: yEAH,,,i KNOW,_

Gamzee skimmed through the rest, seeing how the fraud continued to bully and tease Tavros, at one point even teasing him for being paralyzed. The last straw was when they accused Gamzee of lying about loving Tavros.

"Tavbro!" Gamzee called as he entered the room, holding up his phone. Tavros gasped and felt his pockets.

"When did you…?"

"I took it when we kissed, and I'm sorry about stealing it without asking, but I needed to. I got somebody to help find out who was fucking with you, and they needed some information."

"Oh…You could have just asked," Tavros frowned, patting the spot next to him for Gamzee to come.

Gamzee didn't sit. Instead, he stood in front of Tavros and help onto the phone, "You've been talking to them, still."

Tavros nodded slowly, "Sometimes, they still message me…but they stopped pretending to be Eridan."

"What they're doing isn't any better. They're bullying you, and telling you lies."

Tavros didn't respond, he simply frowned and placed his hands on his lap, staring down at them.

"What in the motherfucking WORLD made you think it was a good idea to talk to them? They're the fucking reason you're paralyzed! They're assholes, and all they've ever done is hurt you, how could you just keep talking to them?" Gamzee ranted, throwing his hands around angrily.

Tavros didn't look up and stayed silent for a moment after Gamzee stopped talking. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet and it sounded like he was choking back tears, "I'm sorry…"

Hearing Tavros like that, and knowing it was his fault…fuck, he couldn't do this. He felt like such an asshole for hurting Tavros. He put the phone on the bedside table and gently climbed on top of Tavros.

"Tavbro…" He straddled the smaller boy and held his hands, "It's fine. I'm sorry I got so mad."

Tavros shook his head and still refused to look up, "No, you're right. I'm stupid."

"Tav you're not stupid," Gamzee frowned and scooted slightly closer, leaning his head against Tavros's, "You're smart, and adorable, and kind, and you're amazing. I just don't get how you could keep in contact with somebody like that."

"I wasn't going to, I just…" he sighed, "I don't know. I guess some of what they're saying just makes sense, and for some reason I can't stop listening."

"None of what they're saying makes any sense. They're lying assholes. Every single thing they told you is wrong," Gamzee insisted, "Please, tell me you didn't believe them, when they said I didn't really love you."

Seconds ticked by and Tavros didn't say a word. He freed one of his hands from Gamzee's to wipe tears away from his eyes, "I guess…sometimes, I did believe them. But, when you're here like this, I know you aren't lying. Sometimes, I just forget, I guess."

Gamzee put his hand on Tavros's chin and gently tilted his head up, moving to meet his lips in a gentle kiss. Once he pulled away, placing his forehead against Tavros's, he spoke, "I don't care what I have to do to make sure you never forget that I love you. I'll do it. Tavros don't ever believe it when people say anything else. You're the most important person in my life and you always will be."

Tavros blinked a couple times and smiled, running his free hand up and down Gamzee's arm gently, "Thank you."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, kissing and nuzzling each other with Gamzee whispering reassurances in Tavros's ear. By the time Gamzee moved to sit beside him, Tavros was smiling ear to ear, eyes shining with confidence.

"I'm going to message them, and tell them I'm deleting the app, and that they shouldn't try messaging me again, okay?" Tavros said as he leaned forward and grabbed his phone off the bedside table.

Gamzee kissed his cheek, "That's perfect."

**a/n soooo…te gusta? (is that even grammatically correct Spanish? I haven't taken Spanish in like 4 years…) I spent my night writing this rather than doing the bit of homework I got on my first day. That's okay, it isn't due tomorrow anyway. Expect another chapter very soon! After that, I'm not very sure when I'll have the time, energy, and will to write.**


	8. Age 17 Part 2

**a/n so this is the chapter that I wrote a portion of before even writing the last chapter. Honestly I'm really happy with how this fic is turning out and I didn't expect it to become anything more than a short cute fluffy fic, but now it's actually got a plot and things that just sorta grew on their own and yeah thank you for your comments, I probably wouldn't have continued it if it weren't for your guys' input!**

**TW: cyberbullying and suicidal thoughts.**

As The Years Pass

Age 17

Tavros refreshed his dashboard, his heart skipping a beat as the red bubble appeared over the envelope to let him know he had a message. Two, actually. The cursor hovered over the icon as Tavros thought it over.

_You know it'll only be hate, you know you shouldn't click it. You know for a fact that it won't help you at all and most of all you KNOW Gamzee is going to come soon and you KNOW you can't let him see you cry. Stop, Tavros. Don't…click…it…don't read it. Just…_He moved the cursor to the X on the corner of the screen before glancing at the icon again, _close the tab, you don't need this. Just close it…_He moved the cursor back over to the icon. _Maybe…maybe it's not, maybe it's something else. If I leave it, what if Gamzee finds it? I should…_He clicked it.

He held his breath when he opened his eyes and read the message.

_Wow toreadork, WOOOOOOOOW, you're too scared to even respond to these, huh? Too afraid your lame follows will agree with me? Ha! I just made myself laugh, like you even have any followers! I dou8t any8ody other than that fucking psychopath juggalo could ever like you. I can't fucking 8ELIEVE you actually thought some8ody liked you. You were lame 8efore you lost your legs, 8ut now you're just a pathetic, paraplegic coward._

He finished reading the message and moved to the other.

_I'd ask if they cut off your 8alls, 8ut you didn't have any in the first place! You're so desperate, you'll date any8ody who even pretends to like you, like that clown freak with the mute clown freak of a 8rother! God you're SOOOOOOOO L88888888ME! Why are you even on this planet? You're so useless, I doubt any8ody would miss you. Your dad would pro8a8ly 8e happy to 8e free of you! And your boyfriend probably wishes you'd do it already, too!_

His eyes widened and he started shaking as the tears gathered. He tried to hold them back, crying would not be good. No, he couldn't let Gamzee see him like this. The anon that keeps leaving him these messages might be a little right, but…the last part, at least, that part can't be right, can it? His dad loves him, right? I mean, yes…he was the reason his mom had died, and he was really probably a lot more annoying than he was worth, and the amount of money his dad had spent, to make the house wheelchair accessible over the past year…Okay, maybe…maybe she was right about that, too.

That thought pushed him over the edge. The tears spilled over and he covered his face with his hands. He didn't even want to think about how much of a pain he must be for Gamzee. The poor guy probably wished they had never met, and he has to regret telling Tavros that he liked him. His life would have been so much better if Tavros had been ki—

"Tavros?!" Gamzee was next to him in a second, his large hands gently pulling Tavros's away from his face, "Tavros, what happened?!"

He tried to tell him that it was nothing, but he couldn't get through the first syllable without crying. Oh no, oh God, Gamzee was actually here. He was seeing Tavros cry like a baby, he was going to yell at him for letting people send him anonymous messages on tumblr. Tavros cried more as he thought about it. God, if he were just de-

"Tavros!" Gamzee yelled, shoving the laptop to the side and slammed it closed before getting onto the bed next to him.

Gamzee's large arms wrapped around him gently and pulled him over. Tavros clung onto gamzee as he was pulled onto his lap. He tried to hold his breath for a moment to quiet the sobs, but it wasn't working. Gamzee rubbed circles on his back and held him close.

"Shhh, Tavros, I'm here, it's okay, I'm here Tavros I won't let anybody hurt you," he whispered, "Shhh Tav, Tav baby, I'm here, I've got you."

This continued for several minutes as Tavros tried to calm down and Gamzee continued comforting him. Tavros slowly stopped crying, just shaking and holding onto Gamzee until that finally stopped and he was left exhausted.

"I'm sorry," He whispered, voice hoarse.

"You're fine, Tav, but can you tell me what happened?" Gamzee said gently, hand still moving in slow circles on Tavros's back.

"Nothing," He lied, "It was just…I was watching a show, and one of my favorite characters died, and I guess, it just…"

"Tav…" Gamzee sighed, "that seemed like a lot worse than a favorite character's death…"

Tavros chewed his lip and shook his head, not lifting it from Gamzee's shoulder, "That's all it was, I'm sorry for scaring you."

Gamzee seemed to hesitate for a moment longer, but finally nodded, "Okay, I'll believe you."

Tavros nuzzled his face into his neck and wrapped his arms around him tighter for a moment, "Thank you."

Gamzee loosened his grip and reached over to the laptop, "Maybe we should watch something else, then."

"No, let's just, not use my laptop, okay?" Tavros said as he quickly placed a hand over it, getting an odd look from Gamzee.

"Why not?"

"I just…I don't want to,"

"Tav…are you sure it was just a character death that made you cry?"

Tavros bit his lip again, this time he couldn't hide in Gamzee's shoulder, "Maybe…it might have been something else. But you don't have to worry about it."

"Tavbro you're my boyfriend and I love you. What kind of asshole would I be if I wasn't worried about something that made you sob uncontrollably?"

Tavros stayed silent and removed his hand from the laptop, looking back down at his lap, "Don't be mad, okay?"

Gamzee opened the laptop and pulled it over, reading the messages and scowling before going deleting them. Tavros watched silently, leaning against Gamzee's chest as he pulled out his phone and asked Sollux what he could find out from anonymous messages on tumblr.

The response came almost instantly, _a lot, if I can get on the account._

"Tav, can you give Sollux your email and tumblr password? He'll figure out who this lying asshole is with it," Gamzee asked, making sure to speak calmly and quietly and gently running a finger through Tav's mohawk.

Tavros nodded and took the phone, quickly typing in the information and pressing send before giving Gamzee the phone again. He curled up a bit on Gamzee's lap and closed his eyes. Gamzee continued texting for a few minutes before putting his phone away and kissing the top of Tavros's head.

Tavros nuzzled him and sighed, "I'm sorry."

Gamzee blinked a few times in confusion, "Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for."

"No, I should have told you about it, sooner. And I should have stopped them. I was being stupid again. And…" He trails off. He can't tell Gamzee that he had started believing in what they were saying again, it would break his heart.

"And?" Gamzee wraps his arms around Tavros protectively, "And what?"

"Nothing. I forgot what I was going to say," Tavros lied, hiding his face again.

Gamzee stayed silent for a moment, rubbing Tavros's back and pressing his lips against the fuzz on the side of his mohawk. He thought for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what to say so that he wouldn't mess it up.

"Tav…you know your dad loves you, right?"

Tavros nodded, "I know. It's still no fair to him, though…"

"What's no fair?" Gamzee asked, and Tavros sighed.

"He'd probably be better off, without me. I make his life so much harder, I think…" He took a deep breath and blinked a few tears back, "I'm not…I'm the reason mom died, and he'd have so much more money, if I hadn't been stupid and gotten myself paralyzed."

"Woah, no, Tav you can't think like that," Gamzee moved him and made Tavros look him in the eyes, "None of that matters. It wasn't your fault, what happened to your mom, and I doubt your dad cares about the money. He's just happy he has you. You're alive and you'll be okay, that's what matters."

"But…"

"No buts. He loves you, Tav. I doubt he'd ever change it, if he had the chance to not have you. He loves you, and so do I."

Tavros stayed silent for a few moments, just looking into Gamzee's eyes. He was serious. But… "Your life would probably be easier, if I just…di-"

"No. Tav don't you dare say that," Gamzee said harshly, following it with a quick, hard, kiss, "You're so fucking wrong. Nothing about my life would get better if you were gone. NOTHING. Nobody around you wants you gone. Not me, not your dad, not Aradia, nobody."

Gamzee kissed the tears off of Tavros' cheeks before kissing his nose, then speaking in a quieter tone, "Tav, we're going to find who's making you feel this way, and we're going to stop them. You don't deserve any of this shit. I'm going to do everything motherfucking possible to protect you from that."

Tavros smiled and leaned into Gamzee, "I know, thank you."

A few more soft kisses led to a sloppy make out session, pushing all of Tavros' negative thoughts out of his head and replacing them with Gamzee.

**a/n THERE DID YOU LIKE THAT? I HOPE. I literally stayed up til 2 AM last night doing homework. Fantastic, right? But now the update is here! Yaaay! **


	9. Age 18 Part 1

**a/n Thank you, guys! Again, I'm loving the comments and I'm really excited that you guys are enjoying it! Now I need your guys to make a decision. I have an idea for a NSFW chapter, and I coooould upload it as a chapter here, or I could just make it a oneshot or something, or just not upload it. What would you prefer? I'll let you know if it's a separate oneshot in an a/n here. I wish I could update more often, but I've got school and sometimes inspiration takes a bit to hit. That, along with fixing plot errors, has made it impossible to get more out faster. Buuut now I've got the next few chapters filled out. Might actually have the entire rest of the story plotted out. I'll talk more at the end.**

As The Years Pass

Age 18 Part 1

"I can't motherfucking believe she'd all up and treat you like that," Gamzee shook his head sadly.

"Yeah, well, she fucking did. And it's not _her_ fault. Or maybe it is…Ugh Gamzee I don't even fucking know anymore!" Karkat groaned and ran his hand through his messy hair again.

"She motherfucking led you on, best friend! If she didn't like you she should have all up and said no!"

"Yeah, but she did like me. When it started she really fucking did. Then that douche hipster and his dweeb friend transferred schools and all of a sudden she thinks she might like him!"

"That's motherfucking fucked up noise."

"And that Vriska chick? The one you said used to go to your fucking school or whatever? Yeah. She's friends with Terezi, and she tried to make it a fucking competition or something!" He spat the words, anger only increasing along with the volume of his voice, "Apparently, the winner was whoever got one of the new kids to fall for them first. Fucking bullshit! Terezi _said_ she didn't see it as a competition, but she fucking won, so what does it matter?"

Gamzee patted his best friend's shoulder, "It's alright, motherfucker. The bitch didn't deserve you anyway. Fuck, I met her two motherfucking times, and I already hate her."

"Gamzee you can't fucking hate her though. Have you _seen _her? She's fucking great. That's why I'm pissed. I was so close to fucking being with a girl I actually really liked, and then it's ended. I'm like one of the assholes in one of those movies where a chick has an asshole boyfriend and falls in love with some other guy. Except the other guy is the fucking douchenozzle this time."

"I'm sorry, bro. That's really shitty."

"Yeah I fucking know. How could she have fallen for _him? _He's a hipster douche who wears shades indoors and thinks he's the coolest fucking shit just because he can rap really well. I swear I don't fucking get it, he doesn't even act like he has _emotions_."

In the middle of Karkat's rant about what's-his-name, Gamzee received a text. He checked quickly, just to make sure it wasn't Tavros, and was shocked to find a message from the elder Mr. Nitram.

_Hey G, its T's dad. R u at our place w T?_

Gamzee rolled his eyes at the man's excessive use of text language before tapping a response.

_Nah, hanging with my best friend. What's up?_

_I got sum gr8 new itd be gr8 if u were there when I tell him, if u want 2,_

"Shit, Karkat, Tavbro's dad has some huge news for him and he wants me to be there when he tells Tav," Gamzee started guiltily, "Would it be all chill and shit if we kept talking later? I motherfuckin promise, we'll hang as soon as possible."

"Oh sure, leave your best friend to deal with his relationship problems on his own while you go hang out with _your _'boo' or whatever the fuck lame nicknames you use. Not like I was in the middle of telling you about the nooksucker that stole my girl."

"Shit man, I'm motherfucking sorry. I'll tell him I'll be back later," Gamzee started the text.

"No, Gamzee. Go. I'm just being a fuckass. I'll tell you all about the nooksucker and his bulgelicking friend later."

"…You sure, best friend?"

"Yeah. It's not like you'd fucking be able to do anything but keep texting them trying to find out the news. Get the fuck over to Tav's place. We'll hang tomorrow or whatever."

"Thanks, bro," Gamzee hugged him tightly, causing him to grunt in annoyance. He chuckled, "What the motherfuck even is a nooksucker? And what's all the noise about bulgelicking?"

"Shut your protein chute. You fucking know what I mean. Don't act like a fuckwit just because I use more creative names, asshole."

Gamzee just laughed more and squeezed him in the hug a bit, "Love you too, best friend."

"Get the fuck off me!" Karkat yelled, punching the taller boy's back.

Gamzee let go and stood, grabbing his wallet off the side table and making sure he had his keys with him, "Text me, 'kay?"

With a curt nod and unintelligible grumble, Karkat slouched against the pillows at the head of his bed.

Gamzee waved one last time and walked out the door, running outside and hoping not to get stopped by Karkat's older brother on his way out.

Once he told Mr. Nitram he was on his way, he was told to help Tavros down to the living room if he could. Gamzee did as he was asked, and gave Tavros a hand with getting on the sofa. They shared a quick kiss before Tav's dad got home.

The tall, lean man walked in with a huge smile on his face, swinging his arms back and forth as he paced slowly, "So…Tav I have some fantastic news for you…I've been saving money for some time…"

The man paused, turning to face the boys and halting his pacing. He held his hands behind him like he was a young boy holding a dandelion he had picked especially for his mother.

"Money for what?"

"Well…I've been looking into possible ways to help you walk again…and I found a doctor that knows how to do make custom prosthetics…"

"Tavbro could possibly walk again?" Gamzee asked quietly. He had entirely given up on the possibility of his boyfriend ever being able to walk again.

"Yes! They say the legs will take a lot of time getting used to…it'll be like learning to walk again…and might be a bit painful at times…"

"But I'll be able to walk…" Tavros's brow scrunched in concentration as he thought this through.

"The doctor…his son has a friend that goes to your school, too…some girl named Nepeta?"

"Oh! I know her, she's one of my friends," Tavros smiled, "She really loves cats. She's nice."

"Bangarang!" His dad cheered, causing both boys to laugh. Nobody knew why he said it, he just always said it when he was excited. Tavros's cousin, Rufioh, started copying Mr. Nitram, around the time he was five and Tavros was two. "So are you cool with it, Tav? Want to do it?"

Tavros takes a moment to think before curling his lips into a smile and nodding quickly.

Gamzee pulled him into a tight hug and gave him a sloppy kiss on the forehead, and Mr. Nitram quickly joined the hug before calling the doctor and scheduling appointments.

**a/n There you go, cute happy chapter :3 and I had another idea while writing. I wasn't really planning on doing much with Karkat in this story, but I'm sort of starting to form a plot for what's happening with him in this au, with Terezi, Dave, and all. Would you guys be interested in reading that? Sorry for all the questions, I just started getting a ton of ideas ^u^**


	10. Age 18 Part 2

**a/n I hope you liked the fluff! Fluff is so fun. I like fluff. And sadstuck. I like a lot of things. **

As The Years Pass

Age 18 Part 2

Tavros carefully paced back and forth in his room, watching his legs move under his control. He's been going to physical therapy for a while now, since he had his legs amputated at mid thigh and got the prosthetics, and he's gotten much better at walking. Although he hasn't mastered the use of his legs yet. They expected him to improve greatly over the next two months, as they approached graduation.

He would be perfectly happy, though, even if he didn't improve at all. He was just happy to be able to walk on his own, and to show off his newly acquired ability to his boyfriend.

"Shiiiit, Tavbro!" Gamzee said with a grin as he slouched on the bed, "It's a motherfucking miracle!"

Tavros laughed, and started walking toward Gamzee, "I know, I never thought it would happen, either."

Gamzee reached out and gently grasped his boyfriend's hand, "You're all up and going to exhaust yourself, with all this walkin' and shit."

With a squeeze of Gamzee's hand, Tavros shrugged, "I'll be okay, I like walking."

Gamzee smiled sweetly at Tavros and chuckled as he let go of his hand, "I know you do. Once you get tired, we can snuggle, okay?"

Tavros nodded as he turned around and walked back across the room. He heard Gamzee's text tone(a honk, of course) and Gamzee shuffling for his phone before he turned around to see Gamzee staring slack faced at the small screen; jaw hanging open and hand gripping the phone a little too tightly.

"Gamzee?" He asked, walking back to the bed as Gamzee regained control of his face and scowled. He hadn't seen Gamzee this angry in months, since well before he had gotten the legs. Gamzee let out a low, guttural growl that scared Tavros, "Gamzee, what happened?"

There was no answer, just a phone tossed onto the bed as Gamzee stood and tangled his hands into his own hair, pulling on it. Tavros picked up the phone, seeing a three word message from Aradia's boyfriend.

_It wa2 Vri2ka_

Tavros dropped the phone and turned to the boy now pacing back and forth angrily. He tried to catch him in a hug and pap him, but it wasn't working.

"That no good motherfucking spiderbitch! That…that…_nooksuckingbulgelickingheartlessmotherfuckingbitch ! _What the motherfuck is _wrong _with her? There is something loose in her goddamned mind. The bitch will pay, _SHE'LL MOTHERFUCKING PAY!" _

His voice grew louder and louder, and Tavros heard his father's door creak open.

"Gamzee, Gamzee, calm down, it's okay," He tried to sooth him, hushing him.

"No Tavbabe it's _not_ motherfucking okay! It _WON'T MOTHERFUCKING BE OKAY_ until she _PAYS FOR IT!"_

Gamzee peeled Tavros off of him with ease and stormed to the door, opening it just as Mr. Nitram raised an arm to knock.

"Gamzee? What happened?" He asked, voice full of worry.

He didn't bother answering, just stomping toward the stairs. Tavros followed, looking at his father in panic.

"Tavros what's going on?" His father tried again. Tavros didn't bother answering, even as his father tried to block his path.

By the time Tavros got around his father, Gamzee was already down the stair and heading for the front door. He cried out, begging Gamzee to stop, and rushed to the stairs until his father hand caught his arm.

"Nonono you don't," Mr. Nitram scolded, "You know you aren't good at stairs yet."

"Dad, let me go," He whined, shaking his arm in a useless attempt to escape his father's grip.

"Tavros Nitram if you do not tell me what's happening at this very minute I will take away Gamzee's spare keys and you will not see him outside of school for a month."

The threat quieted him for a moment, before he answered, "Gamzee, uh, he had some of our friends trying to figure out who paralyzed me. And…well…they found out."

Tavros watched as his father's face softened. The next thing he said was in much softer tone, "He needs to calm down. He'll be back, you know that."

"But, Dad, he's going to get himself hurt, he's too angry to think straight. What if he…" Worry made Tavros's voice tight.

"Gamzee's strong…he'll be okay…he'll be back in an hour or two and when he gets back, you're going to be in bed. Understood?"

Tavros understood. Or, at least he pretended to understand with a soft nod of his head. He turned back to his room, his father following. He removed his prosthetics and placed them on the ground next to the bed, curling up under the blanket and hugging his pillow as Mr. Nitram watched.

Ten minutes after Mr. Nitram turned off the light and closed the door, Tavros sat up and replaced his legs. He cracked the door open and glanced down the hall to his father's own cracked open door and the soft snoring coming from the darkness behind it.

He breathes a sigh of relief and opens the door more, grabbing a hoodie from his room before leaving to try and find Gamzee.

**a/n The new chapter should be up soon after this one. I stayed up a good hour later than I planned to and now I'm going to be exhausted in class tomorrow but it was soooo worth it.**


	11. Age 18 Part 3

**a/n Thank you for the reviews, guys! I get so excited whenever I see a new one. I literally squeal with joy. Seeing the reviews motivates me so much, I can't thank you enough! Please feel free to send more, I adore each one! I've only got one more chapter planned out, after this one, so next chapter miiight be the end? It's uncertain. I could still think of things to add. Just wanted to let you know the possibility.**

As The Years Pass

Age 18 Part 3

Gamzee motherfucking Makara strolled down the sidewalk towards the park. His long, lean, arms swung back and forth, the juggling clubs gripped by his bony hands hitting imaginary targets. Each and every target looked like a certain spiderbitch's face.

For hours, he had searched street after street looking for any sign of her. For hours, he had imagined her terrified expression, her blood covering his clubs, her broken body on the floor as she would stare up with tear-filled eyes. She'd see her doom coming, and it would be shaped like him.

He chuckled wickedly as he practically heard her pain filled cries and her whimpering, pitiful voice begging for mercy. The latter sound would only be stopped by a loud crack or thud and a sob escaping her lips as yet another bone broke in her undeserving body.

She never deserved to know Tavros. He should bonk her in the head, a few times, he thought. Maybe that would wipe her memories, so she wouldn't have the pleasure of knowing what his gentle face looked like. The twisted bitch would never know anything about him, again.

He contemplated the way she might call out for help, beg for somebody to stop him. But nobody would. Nobody _COULD _stop him.

…Yet, he hadn't found her. She was safe somewhere, out at a party pulling some poor sap into her deceivingly silky soft web of lies, or lying in bed dreaming of her twisted version of a perfect world.

Let her have her dreams. Letting her have them one more night might just make it that much sweeter to crush them to dust when he had the opportunity.

He entered the park, stalking down the path. He spotted a large, nearby tree, with branches that formed a V. A dark laugh, a twirl of the clubs, and a quick step, and a club slammed into the tree, breaking through the bark and leaving an indent. Gamzee continue beating the tree as though it were the spiderbitch until he noticed the new colors in the sky.

It was late. Or rather, early. Nearly 4:30 in the morning. Poor Tavbro must be terrified, if he's still awake. It had been on the upside of 6 hours since the clown had stormed out that door. He hoped he had gone to sleep. Staying up this late wasn't healthy and he never wanted to cause any harm to come to Tavros.

Under the changing sky, he walked back to the Nitram house, pulling out his extra key to unlock the front door and quietly sneaking up the stairs. No light shone under Tav's door, and Gamzee sighed with relief, thankful that it seemed Tavros had gone to sleep. He cracked the door open, hearing a sharp intake of breath from the direction of the bed as he peeked in.

"Gamzee?" Tav's voice cracked as he whispered. He was sitting in bed, his back against the wall. The early morning light shining through the window lit his face just enough to see the salty streaks going down his cheeks and the puffy redness around his eyes.

"It's me, Tavbabe," Gamzee entered the room and quietly shut the door behind him as Tavros let out a quiet sob.

"Where were you?" He cried.

"I…I was walking around. I'm sorry," Gamzee walked to the bed and sat next to his boyfriend. He didn't expect the smaller boy to start hitting him as he cried, after the initial shock, it took less than a minute to catch Tav's wrists. Tavros struggled to get out of his grip but Gamzee wouldn't let go, he just stayed silent and frowned as Tavros cried and squirmed.

"I was so worried!" He said as he tried to push Gamzee, "I thought, you were going to get hurt, and I didn't know where you were."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Gamzee murmured, pulling Tavros in and kissing the top of his head as he moved one of Tav's wrists so he was holding both in one hand. Tavros just kept fighting, flailing as he tried to free his hands to smack Gamzee more, but Gamzee just held him close, shooshing him and running his fingers through the boy's mohawk. Within ten minutes, Tavros became too exhausted to fight. He collapsed against Gamzee, crying on his shoulder as Gamzee let go of his wrists and started rubbing small circles on his back.

"I…I tried, to go after you, but…Dad stopped me," Tavros said after a bit.

"Good. You could have gotten hurt."

"YOU could've gotten hurt," Tavros weakly hit his chest again for emphasis, "He took my legs, after I tried a second time, so I couldn't try again…I just wanted to find you, and bring you home."

"I'm sorry, I really am. I won't go out like that again, Tav," Gamzee whispered. He pulled Tavros onto his lap and started rocking back and forth. Tavros whimpered and curled up a bit, leaning entirely onto Gamzee's chest. He was so tired, his eyes refused to stay open and his consciousness tried to slip out of his grasp, but he didn't want to fall asleep. He was still scared that Gamzee might leave again, after he fell asleep.

"Don't…Gam, don't leave me," He mumbled, hands curling around fistfuls of Gamzee's shirt.

"I won't, Tavbro. I'm here. I love you."

Tavros was out before Gamzee finished talking. He continued rocking Tav in his arms, unable to sleep as plans for how to get back at Vriska filled his mind. He would get back at her, for what she had done to Tavros. He'd have his revenge and it would be as sweet as Tavros himself, but it would wait. That night, he needed to stay with Tavros and figure out how to make it up to him for leaving.


	12. Age 18 Part 4

**a/n I love you guys so much! The reviews are great! I'm thinking up ideas for new chapters now. And it might be a while until the next chapter, depending on when I finish making my Tavros cosplay(so close to done. So close.) and some presents for friends. **

As The Years Pass

Age 18 Part 4

Tavros stands, slowly walking to the stage with the other students. He takes a deep breath and climbs the stairs when the teacher tells him to, taking the three steps slowly and carefully. Once at the top, he waits a second before his name is called.

"Tavros Nitram," Their principle, Ms. Condesce, calls.

The entire small stadium is full of loud cheers, the clapping an happy whistles and 'woots' covering the sound of his heart beating loudly. He smiles and shakes hands with Ms. Condesce, her sticky sweet smile and slightly frightening face causing him to avert his gaze as he accepted his diploma.

He turned and smiled, taking the second set of stairs just as slowly as the first and pausing for pictures when he was told. Gamzee was cheering loudly from his seat, and Aradia was clapping from her place a few students away from Gamzee. The entire place cheered for him; not just for graduating, but for walking at graduation.

Soon, he was in his seat again. Several more students graduated and he watched carefully, trying not to laugh giddily when Gamzee would turn in his seat and grin at him.

When the S's came and they didn't call 'Vriska Serket,' Tavros looked toward Gamzee and raised his eyebrows.

The rest of the graduation was nothing special. They were soon out, and they all returned their caps and gowns, took their tassels, and went to meet up with their families.

Gamzee and Tavros walked out together, holding hands. They quickly spotted Gamzee's brother and Tavros' father and cousin. As soon as the three saw Tavros and Gamzee together, Mr. Nitram ran for them and pulled them into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you both!" He was choked up a bit, and wiped away a tear as soon as he let them go.

Gamzee's brother gave them both a high five before starting to sign something, but Gamzee interrupted him, "Kurloz, no! We're not motherfucking celebrating with that!"

"Celebrating with what?" Rufioh asked, scrunching his brow.

"Don't worry about it, bro," Gamzee shook his head in embarrassment.

Kurloz started signing again, suggesting that Gamzee and Tavros go out to celebrate for a bit, and meet up with the family back at the Nitram house later.

"Well, uh, I'd feel kind of bad, not celebrating with dad, and Rufioh came, especially for this, so I think I should celebrate with them, for a while."

"Don't worry, Tavros…we'll celebrate tonight," Mr. Nitram put his hand on Tav's shoulder, smiling widely at him, "Go out and enjoy some time with Gamzee."

"Yeah, Tav! Go have some fun!" Rufioh slapped Tav's back with a laugh, "I'll be here through tomorrow night, we'll hang out later!"

With the okay from his family, Tavros let Gamzee pull him away to the car. Once they were in the car, Tavros got the nerve up to ask the question he had meant to ask.

"Gamzee? What happened to Vriska?"

"Hm?" Gamzee tried to act innocent, "I don't know what you all up and mean."

"She wasn't there, and she probably should have been?"

"Oh, yeah. I heard the motherfucker got into a freak accident and lost an arm."

Tavros stared in silence for a moment while Gamzee backed out of the parking spot and started making his way to the exit of the parking lot. "…Did you do that to her?"

"Why would I do that?" Gamzee grinned at him.

"Gamzee…you really, really shouldn't do things like that," Tavros placed his arm on Gamzee's shoulder and pouted at him, "You could get in trouble, and she must be in a lot of pain, and I don't think it's really nice to hurt people like that."

"You mean like what she did to you?" Gamzee sneered as he turned onto the main road, shocking Tavros into silence, "She deserved it. She motherfucking tricked you, paralyzed you, and tormented you until you were nearly fucking suicidal. The bitch is lucky that you didn't try anything, or she would have a lot worse than a wrecked arm."

Tavros sat back in his seat and stared at Gamzee for several seconds. His jaw was stiff and he glared at the street as though it had personally ruined his life. The smaller young man felt guilty. It was wrong of him to try to scold Gamzee, when he was the reason that Gamzee had done it in the first place. Gamzee had just been looking out for him, and even though he really wished Gamzee would have done something else, like maybe not hurt Vriska, he still loved that Gamzee loved him.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled as he turned away, watching fast food joints and other various stores pass by, "Thank you."

"Sorry for what?"

"For, uh, trying to tell you that what you did was wrong, when you did it because of me."

Gamzee sighed, "Don't feel sorry, Tavbro. I knew you wouldn't like me hurting her, no matter how much she deserves it. I was hoping you wouldn't have to find out."

"Still…I shouldn't have tried to pretend, like you shouldn't have done it, even though I still wish you hadn't, because you were only looking out for me, and that's probably a good thing, to do."

"I'll always be looking out for you. You're my main motherfucker, you know that," Gamzee smiled at him for a moment while they were stopped at a red light and leaned over for a quick kiss before the light changed, "Can we fuck that Vriska noise and talk about some happy shit, now? Like how motherfucking bitchtits you looked, all up and climbing those stairs all perfect like?"

Tavros smiled and nodded softly, thankful for an escape from that conversation. Gamzee drove for another twenty minutes in which they had a much happier conversation about Tavros's physical therapy and how well he was doing. The trip ended when he pulled into a McDonalds parking lot.

"Gamzee…we passed like three McDonalds on the way, why didn't we stop at one of those?" Tavros asked with a small laugh. Sometimes, Gamzee just did things that made no sense, and Tavros would willingly admit that he thought it was really cute and funny.

"We were having a motherfucking awesome conversation, I didn't want to all up and break that shit by stopping."

"We could keep talking, while we're in McDonalds?"

"Fuck yeah, but we can't keep talking when our mouths are all busy chewing, or doing other things," Gamzee wiggled his eyebrows.

He pulled them into the McDonalds and made Tavros choose a place to sit as he ordered their food. The seat was off in the corner, as private as they could get in a McDonalds, and Tavros waited patiently as Gamzee brought them one large cup of root beer to share and several of those little cups of ketchup. Finally, he brought the food; several hamburgers and a box of 20 nuggets.

"Oh my god, Gamzee, are all those nuggets mine?" Tavros smiled and stood.

"You know it, sexy," Gamzee winked at him and kissed him quickly before putting the food down and sitting.

"You're the best, Gamzee!" Tavros laughed loudly and sat, immediately opening the box and digging into his nuggets.

"Woah Tavbabe relax, you have plenty of time to eat, bro," Gamzee laughed and put his hand over the box of nuggets and bit into his first burger in the other hand.

With a sheepish grin, Tavros chewed what was in his mouth and swallowed before taking another bite. He savored each bite, talking to Gamzee between bites. Every once in a while they'd give each other a quick kiss before continuing to eat. When Gamzee received a text, he started eating a little faster and talking less, and Tavros did the same, simply because he didn't know what else to do. They finished soon after that and Gamzee quickly got up and threw out their trash.

"Alright, let's head back to your place now?" Gamzee asked while texting.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Tavros walked next to him as they went back to the car.

Half an hour later, they pulled into Tav's driveway.

"Wait a sec," Gamzee said, holding onto his hand when Tavros moved to open the door. He pulled out his phone and sent another quick text before leaning over and kissing Tavros again, "Okay, now we can go in."

This time, they both left the car, Gamzee running around to the passenger side to take Tav's hand and walk with him to the door. The wide grin across Gamzee's face made Tavros raise a grow and give him a questioning look when they reached the door and Tavros pulled out his keys and opened the door.

"Congratulations!" A large group of people shouted from inside the house, causing Tavros to squeak and jump a bit in shock.

Gamzee chuckled and put his arm over Tav's shoulders, "Surprised?"

Tavros blushed and nodded as he looked over the group. Aradia and Sollux were off to the side, Aradia leaning on him slightly. Jade stood near them with that wide smile on her face and her friend Rose sitting near her. Next to Rose was her girlfriend and Tavros' friend, Kanaya. Gamzee's best friend stood a little distance behind Kanaya, and Nepeta stood next to him and talked to him excitedly while Equius stared off into the distance awkwardly from his place next to her. His older brother, Horuss, stood nearby, talking with Rufioh and his girlfriend, Damara(who Tavros couldn't help but notice, looked less than pleased at being around the Zahhak's) while both Mr. Nitram and Mr. Zahhak stood on the opposite side of the room as Aradia and Sollux. Kurloz was near the back of the room, with Nepeta's older sister, Meulin.

"Good! I was scared you would all guess that the likes of a party were happening," Gamzee said as he led Tavros into the house.

Aradia stood up straight and took Sollux's hand, dragging them over to Tavros and Gamzee and hugging both of them tightly.

"Can you believe that we all actually made it?" Aradia bounced excitedly.

"Yeah, um, I'm really happy we did," Tavros smiled.

"It's pretty great that we don't have to deal with high school drama, anymore," Sollux shrugged. The bored look on his face could have convinced Tavros that he really wasn't happy to graduate, if it weren't for the fact that Aradia had told him about how Sollux got into moods where he just wouldn't make facial expressions.

"It's motherfucking miraculous shit," Gamzee grinned stupidly.

Karkat quickly walked up, "I never thought you'd actually fucking graduate on time, Gamzee."

"I know, bro! It's bitchti—"

Gamzee was interrupted by the high squeal as Nepeta ran up and practically pounced on Tavros, "Oh my gosh Tafurros! I'm so purroud of you! What was it like? I can't wait fur my turn to graduate next year! You did really well, walking up the stairs! It didn't seem like you were going to fall even once!"

"Nepeta, careful," Equius warned.

"Oops, sorry Tafurros!" She giggled and got off of him, allowing Gamzee to stabilize him as she hugged Aradia.

"Nepeta is correct, of course. You did very well with the stairs," Equius said, while bowing his head slightly towards Gamzee.

"Thanks," Tavros beamed.

Soon, Jade, Rose, and Kanaya joined them. Kanaya scolded Karkat when he tried to say something rude, and Jade gave Tavros a hug, although one much gentler than Nepeta's had been. Each of them congratulated Tavros, Gamzee, Aradia, and Sollux.

They spoke about their future plans; Gamzee was going to community college by his father's orders, despite the fact that he couldn't stand his father because of the older man's constant absence from his children's lives. Sollux was going to college and was going to become a game developer while Aradia had decided to become a mortician. Tavros had wanted to stay and go to community college with Gamzee, but once they found out he had gotten a substantial scholarship from his dream college, Gamzee and Mr. Nitram insisted he go there. He hadn't decided on a major just yet, but he was relatively sure he'd be working with animals.

The party didn't end until late that night. Tavros thanked everybody for coming and kissed Gamzee goodnight when he went home with Kurloz. He stayed up a bit longer with Rufioh and his dad, helping clean up before sitting down to watch TV with them. It wasn't until about 1 in the morning that they decided to head to bed, and Tavros fell asleep quickly.

**a/n excuse the crappy ending. Oh it's so horrible. Well um. Yeah, I couldn't get into this chapter as much as I would have liked because I thought up the next few chapters and I'm pretty excited for them! **


	13. Age 19 Part 1

**a/n After this, there will probably either be a lot of chapters over the next month and a half, or like two, because I've got a lot of homework coming in and real life things, but I also have been in a really creative mood over the past few weeks so if it continues I might get more stories out. Sorry if it does end up being only like two, though. **

As The Years Pass

Age 19 Part 1

Gamzee waited by the front door, ignoring the looks from the various college students. One or two came up to him for high fives and complimented his clown makeup, but the majority gave him weird looks. He slouched and leaned against a pole as he waited for Tavros to show up.

Tavros climbed up the stairs to the front door ten minutes after Gamzee arrived, launching himself at Gamzee as soon as he saw him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Gamzee! I was talking with Jade about our professor," He explained, hugging Gamzee tightly.

"It's not a problem, Tavbabe," Gamzee laughed and twirled Tavros around before putting him down, "Now what's the motherfuckin' plan for the day?"

Tavros let him go, taking a hand and slowly pulling him towards a set of double doors, walking backwards so he could see Gamzee's face, "Well, I was going to show you my dorm room, first, and maybe relax in there for a bit and just talk, about things, and maybe then we could get food from the dining hall."

Gamzee grinned and followed Tavros, "Sounds great."

Tavros smiled and turned around when they reached the door, unlocking it to let them into the hallway until they reached his room. He unlocked that door as well and opened it to reveal a small room packed with two beds, two desks, and a mini fridge with a microwave resting on it.

The walls on both sides of the room were plastered with posters; on one side, posters from something called 'The Midnight Crew' and little creatures that looked like balls of felt with pool balls for hats hung over an unmade bed with card suits on the white sheets. A camera was left on the bed along with a few copies of Game Bro magazine. The desk was covered by an open laptop, a cheap looking sound board, and several pictures. It was messy, but the mess was entirely contained on that side of the room.

The other wall had posters from Peter Pan, along with a few pictures of Gamzee, Aradia, Sollux, and Tavros, stuck to the wall just above the bed with the orange sheets and slightly darker comforter. The desk was messy, with cards from one of Tav's games scattered around his laptop and books in a stack in the corner.

Gamzee only glanced at the other side of the room for a second before sitting on his boyfriend's bed and looking over the pictures and posters.

"I'm so glad you got to come, Gamzee! I can't wait to introduce you to everybody," Tavros plopped onto the bed next to Gamzee. He leaned against the wall near Gamzee before continuing to speak, "I met Rose's cousin, Roxy, and she's really nice, but I don't really hang out with her that much, because she really likes to drink and things, but that's okay, because she introduced me to some of her friends, like Jane, and Jake, and Dirk. They're really nice, and Jane loves to bake things and sometimes she gives me things she makes!"

Gamzee listened as Tavros explained each of his friends in detail, smiling widely and nodding. He was happy for Tavros, it was good to know he wasn't lonely, but at the same time a small part of him was a little saddened. It seemed as though Tavros didn't need him, anymore, but he wouldn't let Tavros know that.

"And Dirk's really cool, he reminds me of my roommate a lot, because he has these shades he always wears, although Dirk's are pointed and Dave's are like aviators. They really look alike though, they both have like really pale skin and blonde hair, and they like to rap and things."

As Tavros finished his sentence, a key jangled in the lock and the door was pushed open, Dave walked in and gave Tavros and Gamzee a small nod. The guy seemed familiar, to Gamzee…he was sure he'd never meet him before, but the way Tavros described him, and that smug poker face of his and those stupid shades he insisted on wearing indoors all reminded him of somebody Karkat had complained about before.

"Oh, hey Dave!" Tavros smiled happily, "I didn't expect you to come so soon, I thought your class didn't end for a little longer?"

"Yeah man, usually it doesn't get out for a while longer but I had that test today," Dave walked to his desk and closed the laptop, not bothering to look back as he continued to speak, "who's this? Boyfriend?"

Tavros blushed a bit, "Yeah, this is Gamzee. Gamzee, this is Dave."

Dave turned and gave him another small nod before reaching for his camera, "Gamzee…know a Karkat by any chance?"

That's when Gamzee remembered; this was the motherfucker that fucked up Karkat's relationship. He tried to keep on his calm attitude and let his mouth twitch into a small smile, "Yeah, man, he's my motherfucking best friend. Know him?"

"Yeah some shit went down in high school but we're pretty tight now," Dave shrugged, putting his electronics into his backpack. Of course, Gamzee had already known that. Apparently Dave's relationship with Terezi deteriorated pretty quickly, and then he and Karkat started talking and became pretty close friends, but Gamzee didn't care that Karkat told him that he was cool with Dave; he still hadn't forgiven the hipster for causing Karkat to go through all that heartache.

"Oh, it's really cool, that you're both friends with Karkat," Tavros smiled hopefully. He had known some of what had happened between Karkat, Dave, and Terezi, but Gamzee hadn't brought Dave up in ages and had hardly used his name in the first place, which left him entirely unaware of the situation.

"It's pretty motherfuckin' bitchtits," Gamzee smiled back at his boyfriend and wrapped an arm around him, pulling Tavros close. He kissed Tavros on the nose and nuzzled him before looking back at Dave. He made sure Tavros wasn't looking when he gave Dave a small warning look.

"Yeah pretty cool," Dave shrugged his bag onto his shoulder and shoved his keys back into his pocket, "I'm going to be out for a few hours. John's roommate's gone for the night so we're going to chill at his dorm. If I come back late I'll try not to wake you up."

"Okay, thanks for telling me," Tavros responded, but Dave was already halfway out the door. He stood and walked to the mini fridge, pulling out two bottles of Faygo, "I got these, for you and I."

Gamzee smiled and thanked him as the door swung closed, but as soon as it clicked shut, his smile disappeared, "Tav, be careful around that motherfucker, I don't trust him."

"Huh?" Tavros set down one of the bottles to open the other and took a small sip of it, "Dave would never hurt me, you don't have to worry."

"I still don't fucking trust him. He's a douche."

"But, why? What do you think he's going to do? Try to steal me away from you?" Tavros chuckled as he took another sip, but he kept an eye on Gamzee and didn't miss the angry look on Gamzee's face just before he looked away, "Wait, you really think…?"

"Tav he's the one that fucked with Karkat and Terezi's relationship."

"But…" Tavros put his drink down and walked the short distance back to the bed. He climbed onto Gamzee's lap, straddling him and gently taking the painted face in his hands and turning it to him, "I'd never like anybody else, Gamzee."

Tavros kissed the clown sweetly, smudging some makeup on his lips before he continued, "You can ask anybody, when you meet them later, and they'll tell you how I never shut up about you. Dave would never try anything, he knows I'm with you."

"That didn't stop him from fucking with Karkat's relationship."

"Yeah, but I don't think he really meant to do that, and I also don't think he would do it again, he really is really nice."

Gamzee wrapped his arms around Tavros and kissed him again, "He still seems like a dick to me."

Tavros sighed, "Okay, I'll be careful, alright? I promise."

The two started kissing again, and Gamzee's arm's traveled down to Tav's hips. They got so wrapped up in the kiss, they didn't notice the keys in the lock or the door opening until it was too late.

"Woah there!" John said, covering his eyes as he walked in behind Dave.

"Shit, Tav, I know you missed him but fuck you couldn't wait five minutes to jump his bones like a dog in heat?" Dave added.

Tavros squeaked and hid his face against Gamzee's neck as Gamzee sighed in exasperation and glared at them, "S-sorry, I thought you said, you'd be gone, a-and, we were only kissing."

"Sure, bro, sure. I just forgot to grab some snacks. Give us two minutes and you can go back to humping him."

"I wasn't-" Tavros didn't bother finishing his sentence; he just continued hiding his face against Gamzee's neck as Dave walked in and grabbed some bags of chips and a few cans of soda from the fridge.

"Yeah, whatever. It's chill, just don't do shit on my bed and it's all cool," Dave waved dismissively in Tav's direction after handing some of the snacks to John. He picked up a few more before heading back to the door, "Now we're set. Want me not to come back tonight?"

The question shocked Tavros and he finally looked up; his paint-smeared face stared at Dave with wide eyes for several seconds as he couldn't think of a possible answer.

"Y'know what just text me later and let me know if I shouldn't come back alright because I don't want to interrupt your fun time or something."

He left, closing the door behind him. The pair in the room could hear John's snickering before the door clicked shut again.

**a/n ah Dave. Dave is fun. I'll try to write the next chapter in a few days.**


End file.
